44 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



Sharpless. I expected much of the Jessie, hut did not reah/.e to my expectations. 

 I never have seen the Maggie spoken of in any accounts of varieties, but I hkc 

 to grow it. It is good size, fine flavor, and holds on well in the picking season, 

 and stands the winter well. It is a rough, ill-shapen berry, however, and this 

 may account for its background estimation among fruit growers. I expert some- 

 thing above the ordinary from the Williams. Nine plants which lived through 

 last winter, out of the dozen that Mr. Craig sent me, produced a fine lot of 

 good healthy plants last summer, and generally when we .see fine foliage we hope 

 tor fruit to correspond. Last season was proverbial for fine growth in this sec- 

 tion, of all kinds of vegetation, after the rains commenced in June. Hut the 

 late frosts and spring drouth shortened the strawberry crop fully one-half with us. 



Nepean. Out. L. FooTi:. 



MAKE A HOT-BED AND USE IT. 



In preparing a hot-bed for starting early plants or for raising lettuce, it is best 

 to calculate upon having the dirt within at least two inches of the glass when 

 the heat is first put in. It will settle a little, and ought not to be at any time 

 more than three or four inches below the level of the plank. Plants will not 

 grow to perfection in a pit. They must be up near the glass where they can 

 have plenty of light and air, and where they can be made to grow stout and 

 strong. The best frame for a hot-bed is made by setting two planks on level 

 ground (the right distance apart to accommodate the glass), one being eleven 

 inches wide, the other nine. This gives a pitch of two inches to the glass, 

 which is sufficient. The usual size of hot-bed sash is 6x3 ft., and this size is the 

 most convenient. 



Through February and March good bottom heat is needed. Strawy horse 

 manure is the best and should be used when about one week old. In putting 

 'n the heat, begin at one end of the frame and throw out a square of dirt 6x6 

 feet and eight inches deep. A good cart load of manure will fill this space up. 

 It should be well trodden. Then shovel the next square of dirt directly upon 

 the manure and fill the space thus made as before. Continue the work until the 

 last square is reached, when the first dirt thrown out can be carted to cover the 

 last load of heat. \\'hen seeds are sown it is a good plan to sift sand over the 

 loam and press it down with a shovel, level and smooth. Lettuce sown early 

 in February ought to be ready for market by May i, which is about the time that 

 people get hungry for it. 'I'hrough May it invariably sells well. Tomato |)lants 

 are sown about March 1 , and should be twice trans[)lantecl. If sown a month 

 later they will do very well. The glass can be used upon cucumbers to good 

 advantage after getting through with the lettuce and tomato plants. Fnr»i ntui 

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